A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §5A-1-12; and to
amend said code by adding thereto a new section, designated
§46A-6F-401a, all relating to requiring certain vendors to use
only persons authorized to work in the United States;
establishing a customer's right to customer sales or customer
service call center information; and providing penalties.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new section, designated §5A-1-12; and that said
code be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated
§46A-6F-401a, all to read as follows:

CHAPTER 5A. DEPARTMENT OF ADMINISTRATION.

ARTICLE 1. DEPARTMENT OF ADMINISTRATION.

§5A-1-12. Certain vendors required to use only persons authorized
to work in the United States.

(a) Ineligible vendors. -- The Secretary of the Department of
Administration and other entities to which this article applies may
not contract for telemarketing services or telephone center
services with any vendor that employs the services of any person
not authorized to work in the United States pursuant to federal law
in the performance of telemarketing or telephone center services on
behalf of the state and such services shall be performed in the
United States.
(b) Vendor certification. -- The Secretary of the Department
of Administration shall require each vendor submitting a bid or
contract to provide services for the state as set forth in
subsection (a) of this section to certify that only its employees
who are authorized to work in the United States pursuant to federal
law will be performing services under the contract.
Any person who violates this section is guilty of a felony
and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than one
thousand dollars or imprisoned in a state correctional facility not
less than eighteen months, or both fined and imprisoned.
(c) Void contracts. -- A contract entered into or performed in
violation of this section is void. A contract that is void under
this section may continue in effect until an alternative contract
can be arranged when: (1) Immediate termination would result in
harm to the public health or welfare; and (2) the continuation is
approved by the Secretary of the Department of Administration.
Approval of continuation of contracts under this subsection shall be given for the minimum period necessary to protect the public
health or welfare.

(1) As used in this section the following terms mean:
(a) "Customer sales call center" means an entity whose primary
purpose includes the initiating or receiving of telephonic
communications on behalf of any person for the purpose of
initiating sales, including telephone solicitations as defined in
section one hundred twelve of this article.
(b) "Customer service call center" means an entity whose
primary purpose includes the initiating or receiving of telephonic
communications on behalf of any person for the purposes of
providing or receiving services or information necessary in
connection with the providing of services or other benefits.
(c) "Customer services employee" means a person employed by or
working on behalf of a customer sales call center or a customer
service call center.
(d) "Identifying information" means social security numbers,
driver's license numbers, checking account numbers, savings account numbers, credit card numbers, debit card numbers, personal
identification (PIN) code, electronic identification numbers and
digital signatures, any other numbers or information that can be
used to access a person's financial resources, biometric data,
fingerprints, passwords and a parent's legal surname prior to
marriage.
(2) Any person who receives a telephone call from, or places
a telephone call to, a customer sales call center or a customer
service call center, upon request, has the right to:
(a) Know the identification of the city, state and country
where the customer service employee is located.
(b) Know the name or registered alias of the customer services
employee.
(c) Know the name of the employer of the person with whom the
person is speaking.
(d) Speak to a qualified employee of the company or government
agency the person is doing business with.
(3) No person who places a telephone call from, or receives a
telephone call to, a customer sales call center or a customer
service call center may send the customer's financial, credit or
identifying information to any foreign country without express
written permission of the customer.
(4) A willful violation of this article is an unfair or
deceptive trade practice under section five hundred one, article six-f of this chapter and is subject to the causes of action set
forth in section five hundred two, article six-f of this chapter.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to establish the consumer's
right to know regarding telemarketers; to require certain vendors
to use only persons authorized to work in the United States; to
establish customer's right to know a customer sales or customer
service call center information; and providing a penalty.

These sections are new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.